Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun strongly criticized columnist and commentator Fareed Zakaria, who tried to defame the recent elections in Türkiye.
Columnist Zakaria, "who has a history of plagiarism, ‘borrows' a page from the talking points of self-proclaimed Türkiye experts and supposedly objective journalists in Washington to make bogus accusations against the Turkish people," Altun said on Twitter.
"The textbook definition of a sore loser. I got news for you, Fareed: The Turkish people have spoken through free and fair elections-a right they forced the single-party regime to concede through hard work and sacrifice."
His remarks came a day after Zakaria, a columnist and CNN host, shared a video on Türkiye's May 14 parliamentary and presidential elections, claiming that they are "free but also profoundly unfair."
Altun said the Turkish people gave President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's People's Alliance a parliamentary majority plus Erdoğan himself a comfortable lead for his reelection in the first round, headed toward a runoff this Sunday, May 28.
Altun on Sunday wrote the Turkish people "will cast their votes for a stronger and more independent Türkiye that plays a stabilizing role in its region and worldwide. Liberating Türkiye from the yoke of domestic and foreign tutelage has been the essence of President Erdoğan's decadeslong objective."
"This is the reason the Turkish people alone chart our country's future course and why people like Fareed have been rendered utterly irrelevant."
This Sunday, May 28, Erdoğan will face Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and joint candidate for the six-party opposition Nation Alliance, in a runoff vote.
Erdoğan finished the first round with 49.52% of the vote, while Kılıçdaroğlu came second at 44.88% and Sinan Oğan of the ATA (Ancestral) Alliance got 5.17%.
Oğan on Monday endorsed Erdoğan for the runoff, saying: "We believe that our decision is the right decision for our country and nation."
Meanwhile, Ümit Özdağ, head of the Victory Party (ZP) once endorsed Oğan as the presidential candidate as part of the ATA Alliance said Oğan's support for Erdoğan reflects solely "his political preferences" and that he will make a separate announcement scheduled for Tuesday.
From 2012 to 2014, Zakaria was plagued by several instances of plagiarism, which he called a "terrible mistake," but led to his temporary suspension from Time magazine and CNN and the attaching of cautionary labels on some of his other work.
